Never fired before. And he became the first coach in hockey history to be fired by Skype.

"I'd never been fired in 24 years as a hockey coach and it was the first time I'd had a conversation with Craig MacTavish by Skype," said Krueger in a telephone interview at 10:50 a.m. Edmonton time Sunday, the exact same time that he was "blindsided" by the very brief exchange with the Oilers new general manager.

"I definitely did not see it coming," said Krueger.

"Craig and I spent a good part of the week together at the world championships in both Helsinki and Stockholm. There were eight or nine days on the road together with no sign of dismissal," said the coach, who has two years remaining on his contract.

"It was Thursday, about this time in my time zone here in Switzerland when I had my Skype with Craig. I was taking a three week break after the world championships and scheduled to come back to work in Edmonton June 21.

"I was just setting up the schedule for the season in my office when the call came.

"The strange thing is one second you are 100% an Oiler and then you are 100% out. At one second you are all in and then you are out. It was a surprise."

At Saturday afternoon's hastily-called press conference to announce the dismissal of Krueger, MacTavish was asked by your correspondent how Krueger took the news. The response of the new GM was that he had "a very personal conversation" with Krueger but said I'd have to ask the man on the other end of the conversation how he reacted.

Krueger said he found it all surreal. It was surprisingly not, even for a second, emotional.

"Not at all. When Craig started speaking, he went right to business. He said he made the decision to hire a new head coach.

"It was a very short exchange after that. It was done. I don't think the whole conversation lasted five minutes.

"My attitude when a decision is done is that there is no point burning any brain cells with why. Craig needs to understand it. The organization needs to understand it. I need to accept it, not understand it.

"The reality of that is I woke up (Sunday) morning and started walking to my desk where I do my season preparations and stopped half way there. I just sort of stood there and realized 'This isn't a bad dream.' "

To get fired because the current hot hire, Dallas Eakins, was available with a very tight window, is an exasperating way to lose your job.

"Sorry, Ralph. But we suddenly had a chance to get this other guy and ..."

Krueger said he doesn't know Eakins.

"It certainly hits you hard. It hurts and it takes a few days to process the dismissal. But I'm already doing well with that. I do not understand this release and it brings me nothing when I rack my brain about it. I just have to accept it and I'm doing pretty well at that.

"I want people to understand I have no bitter feelings. That might sound strange in these circumstances but I spent three wonderful years with the Oilers. I'm really grateful for that.

"I enjoyed every day, from my first day as an Oiler to the last day. I don't remember waking up one day of the experience and not being grateful. I will not get bitter and not get cranky. It was everything and more I could have experienced.

"I'd like to get the message out there that I loved running the river valley stairs and meeting people there. It's a great hockey city where I can say I spent three years working passionately in that environment."

Another thing Krueger said he'd like you to know is that it was his idea that he wanted an associate coach next year.

"I basically took Tom Renney's job and didn't replace me," he said of going without as associate coach this past year.

"With the lockout season, I thought that was the right thing to do.

"At the end of the season, in the first conversation I had with Craig, I requested to add an associate coach for this coming season. That was always my plan. It was clear that you can't go an entire 82-game regular season without one.

"We agreed to run that search together. I was good with him interviewing candidates until I returned June 21.

"Obviously that led to a different result than I imagined."

The thing to this observer is where Krueger was after Game 36 of a lockout-shortened schedule with no training camp.

To think he would end the season losing his job as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers was, at that moment, inconceivable.

From the brink of playoff elimination he'd coached his team to five consecutive wins -- 3-0 over St, Louis, 6-4 over Colorado, 4-0 against Vancouver and then 4-1 and 8-2 versus Calgary -- to make it up to eighth place in the NHL Western Conference.

Krueger went on Hockey Night in Canada's 'After Hours' and just killed, completely captivating a significant percentage of the populace, including most who might have been undecided about the former Swiss national team coach.

Then he lost six in a row. Won one. Lost three more. And ended up with two mop-up-the-schedule wins on the final weekend.

Was that really where he lost his job?

Halfway through that run Craig MacTavish took over as the new general manager.

Krueger said, looking back, the day Steve Tambellini was fired as GM, was the day he was in danger of this happening.

"Oh, definitely. There is a history of close connections between general managers and coaches. That is something I need to respect."

Krueger said if MacTavish felt a major philosophical difference, he made the right decision.

"I have to concur with him. It seems to be the only thing possible is that we must have a large philosophical void.

"I was never told what that void was.

"I will never compromise my principles or my leadership philosophy."

As I tossed a few things in the air that contrasted in the styles between MacTavish and himself in their coaching careers here, Krueger started to laugh.

Never had a coach quote Shakespeare in an interview after he'd just been fired before. But he said it popped into his head while I was contrasting coaching philosophies.

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell, my blessing season ..."

Five minutes after the interview was over, Krueger sent a text message:

"Hamlet. Act 1."

That saideth, Krueger admitted the last dozen games did not rest easy.

"You do not, until you've coached as a head coach in the National Hockey League, really get what it takes to win in the NHL. In the final quarter of the season, the toughest quarter of the season, I truly did not know what it takes. I'm certain I'll be a much better coach because of that experience.

"Our fans should be extremely angry with our final quarter. It was unacceptable. I take responsibility for that.

"More needed to happen this season with the team.

"I was really as disappointed as anybody that we didn't make the playoffs."

What will the future hold?

"I will work for sure. I cannot sit still. I need to sit back and see what comes in my direction. I loved every single day in the National Hockey League. I have to wait for the fog around me to clear. I can't imagine the NHL won't be in that picture."

If Craig MacTavish is convinced that the Oilers will be more successful with Dallas Eakins as head coach, I'm good with that. But I'm also convinced that not having the chance to know Ralph Krueger better and longer is also our loss.

Follow me on Twitter.com/sunterryjones

terry.jones@sunmedia.ca

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Oilers broke up with Ralph Krueger via Skype

TERRY JONES, QMI Agency

First posted:
Monday, June 10, 2013 12:35 AM EDT

Ralph Krueger was fired by Skype.

Never fired before. And he became the first coach in hockey history to be fired by Skype.

"I'd never been fired in 24 years as a hockey coach and it was the first time I'd had a conversation with Craig MacTavish by Skype," said Krueger in a telephone interview at 10:50 a.m. Edmonton time Sunday, the exact same time that he was "blindsided" by the very brief exchange with the Oilers new general manager.

"I definitely did not see it coming," said Krueger.

"Craig and I spent a good part of the week together at the world championships in both Helsinki and Stockholm. There were eight or nine days on the road together with no sign of dismissal," said the coach, who has two years remaining on his contract.

"It was Thursday, about this time in my time zone here in Switzerland when I had my Skype with Craig. I was taking a three week break after the world championships and scheduled to come back to work in Edmonton June 21.

"I was just setting up the schedule for the season in my office when the call came.